In recent years, the applications for laparoscopic surgery have expanded to include many different procedures. A benefit of laparoscopic operations is the relatively quick recovery period experienced by patients, due to the small incisions that are made in the body. These incisions reduce the trauma and the required healing compared to traditional surgery. Laparoscopic tubes and sleeves with diameters on the order of 10 millimeters are inserted in the body cavity. Various instruments and a video camera are typically directed through laparoscopic sleeves for performing and monitoring the surgical steps.
A particular concern in laparoscopic surgery is the transporting of tissues and other mass that are cut away or retrieved during a surgery. While moving, manipulating, or cutting up a removed mass within the body cavity, pieces of infected or cancerous mass, blood, bile, and other liquids may escape into the body cavity and pose infection problems or other complications. It is desirable to contain these materials in a bag or similar enclosure within the body cavity before removal to minimize the risk of infection or other complications. It is important that the containment of the materials be accomplished as quickly as possible with minimal disturbance to the surgical site.
Instruments with membranes or bags have been designed in an attempt to avoid the complications associated with the removal of tissue during laparoscopic surgery. These devices typically fall into two categories, those that have a bag coiled around an introducing rod that must be unfurled by various maneuvers, and those that pop open a bag using a spring, wire, or other mechanism. A device that falls into the second category is a pouch disclosed in Pagedas (U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,597), which utilizes a flexible rod slidably connected to a wand to create a reclosable pouch. When the rod bows out, the bag is opened. When the rod straightens, the bag is closed to form a seal.
However, the specimen retrieval instruments that are currently on the market, especially the more practical devices, are designed for a single use. Not only does this create a disposal problem, but disposable instruments are not always cost effective. In this era of cost containment, the need often arises for reusable instruments, especially a laparoscopic retrieval pouch that can be sterilized and reused. A second failing of the current specimen retrieval instruments is that they are limited as to the specimen size that can be safely retrieved. A reusable instrument that can employ different size bags and allow rapid removal and replacement of a retrieval pouch would increase surgical efficiency. A third short coming of disposable specimen retrieval instruments is that specimen bags are often ruptured by morcelating instruments or pressure distention against the base of the retrieval bag. A reusable device warrants the additional cost of heavier gauge materials that can withstand the burden of a larger mass, the rigors of morcelation, and the stress of sterilization. U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,597 (Pagedas) is incorporated herein by reference. Although Pagedas (U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,597) alludes to an option where one may slip a sleeve styled bag onto its device, no specific embodiment is given. Moreover, no mention is made of a reusable bag that may be sterilized.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a reusable surgical device, and a method of using such a device, that allows efficient access and retrieval of tissue or other mass from a body cavity.